Sewage Sludge - A Possible Indicator for Radionuclides Released to the Atmosphere from Nuclear Power Plants

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Abstract
Activation products typical of the release from nuclear power stations have been detected in sludge collected in treatment plants for community waste water located between 2 and 52 km from the Swedish nuclear power stations at Ringhals and at Simpevarp near Oskarshamn. The time variations of the 60Co activity concentration at two sampling sites located in the same direction from the Oskarshamn nuclear power station have been followed during 5 months and found to be almost identical. For distances, z, between 8 and 52 km from the nuclear power stations, the 60Co/7Be activity ratio, R(z), decreases rapidly and the variation with distance follows the power function R(z) = alpha * z−beta, where alpha and beta are constants. The beta-values for the Ringhals and Oskarshamn areas were not significantly different and their mean value was 2.5±0.5. Possible sources of the activation products in sewage sludge and the transport mechanism to the community treatment plants are discussed.

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